Go raibh maith agat. I call Senator Grace O'Sullivan.

Thank you, a Chathaoirligh. Like my colleague in Fianna Fáil, I am delighted to be speaking today about the return home, at long last, of the Irish citizen Ibrahim Halawa, whose joyous welcome from his family, well-wishers, members of the Government and others made for really happy scenes at Dublin Airport earlier today. Ibrahim's strength in the face of such adversity and his evident joy at being united with his family and being back home in his country are testament to his character. Having been held captive myself for a tiny fraction of the time Ibrahim was, during my days with Greenpeace, I can only imagine what he has gone through over the past four years. He is home now and he has been declared innocent of any and all charges, as have his sisters. I raised the issue of Ibrahim's detention in my first speech in the Seanad last year, as part of a Commencement debate with the then Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan. In that speech, I questioned the Government's approach to securing Ibrahim's release after 1,046 days of detention without trial at that time.

Today we are celebrating the release of Ibrahim Halawa but there will be the temptation to see it as a vindication of the wait and see approach.

Hear, hear.

We cannot forget the sterling campaigning work of so many organisations, including but not limited to Amnesty International Ireland, the Union of Students in Ireland, numerous campus and secondary school groups, SIPTU, People Before Profit, the Green Party, including Deputy Eamon Ryan, who went to see Ibrahim during the summer as part of the Oireachtas delegation, the Labour Party and many others who campaigned and lobbied for Ibrahim's release. The Green Party was in touch with our colleagues in the European Parliament to help to publicise the case there. The hard work and relentless focus of Ms Lynn Boylan, MEP, cannot go uncredited. The approach of these groups was not a softly softly one but one that reflected a justified outrage that any foreign government would consider it acceptable to mass detain protesters without trial for years. Ireland, of all countries, should be first to decry this outrage, whether it involves Irish citizens or not.

I recognise the work of the Irish media, which fulfilled their duty in publicising the case of Ibrahim Halawa through the years. The patience, diligence and strength of Ibrahim's family, especially his remarkable sisters, Somaia, Omaima and Fatima, who I met on a number of occasions, bears a special mention. With their intelligence, empathy and decency evident throughout and their now considerable experience of politics, perhaps we will see them in this House.

We cannot forget the work of the ambassador and the Minister, Deputy Coveney.

I am putting it to the Leader that we formally welcome the return to Ireland of Ibrahim Halawa.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

I join others in welcoming the return home of Ibrahim Halawa. There were very joyful scenes at Dublin Airport. I commend all those who played a part in securing his release. An Oireachtas cross-party delegation that included the Labour Party leader, Deputy Brendan Howlin, among its members went to Egypt at the start of the year. It is worth commending everyone involved in securing his release while noting that his detention went on for far too long. It raised all sorts of issues and questions around the Egyptian justice system. It is a very good day to see him released finally.

Indeed.

I join Senator Ardagh and others in speaking about the tracker mortgage scandal. Clearly this gives rise to very worrying issues around the dealings of the Central Bank of Ireland with the banks, in particular on the issue of the delay. I understand the Central Bank of Ireland commenced its investigation two years ago. However, there is a sense of urgency about dealing with the issue now because people saw at the public hearings of Oireachtas committees individuals who were deeply and prejudicially affected by the banks' actions. There is a concern that greater urgency must be shown in dealing with the banks. It is simply not enough to call them in and to expect voluntary compliance with codes. More teeth must be given, if necessary, to the Central Bank of Ireland in pursuing banks which are guilty of these types of behaviours towards their clients.

I commend the Irish Penal Reform Trust which launched an excellent report today entitled Progress in the Penal System: A Framework for Penal Reform. This is a groundbreaking report, setting up a series of criteria by which we must judge our penal system. I was glad to see the references to the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality's report on the penal system from 2013 and the progress made since then. I commend the Irish Penal Reform Trust on its work and I recommend the report to colleagues.

I welcome the vote taken by the Joint Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution last week not to retain the eighth amendment in full. I hope the joint committee will go on to recommend full repeal of the eighth amendment. It is good to see the committee working in public. It is important that debate is conducted in a respectful fashion and that issues around abortion and termination of crisis pregnancy are dealt with in a respectful fashion. Unfortunately, we saw in recent days some very distasteful and offensive comments by a Member of this House, Senator Mullen, around the anniversary of the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar. I condemn the words he used which were condemned subsequently by friends of Savita's family.